TextEnsuring Domestic Water Security for Cities under Rapid Urbanisation and Climate Change Risks.pdf
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Abstract

There has been an exponential growth in the number of people living in urban areas since the middle of the 20th century, and by the end of 2018 more than half of the world population lived in cities. This rapid urbanisation has created unprecedented challenges, among which the provision of domestic water has received increasing attention. Water is a basic need for humans and is the basis for socio-economic development. However, in many developing countries, governments have difficulties keeping pace with the fast rate of urbanisation due to limited financial resources and a lack of technical expertise. This ultimately results in a number of water-related problems, such the lack of provision of an adequate water supply and improper sanitation, degradation of ecosystems, and storm water management failures. Moreover, climate change is exacerbating these water related problems by influencing the hydrological cycle. Today there are 400 million urban dwellers worldwide affected by water scarcity and 250 million people are without improved sanitation services, causing an estimated 3.4 million deaths annually through water-borne diseases. This figure could potentially soon become more severe and increase to one billion people, as an 80% increase in water demand is projected by 2050. According to the American Meteorological Society, accessibility to a sufficient supply of clean water is one of the critical issues facing society in the 21st century. Such issues are now receiving greater attention from politicians and policymakers, leading to increased research in this direction. This chapter provides insights to the problems leading to an unreliable and unsecure water supply in cities and identifies future water challenges that cities will face, as well as showing how water security is interlinked with various developmental domains. Furthermore, indicators used to measure domestic water security are explained and an index based on the amalgamation of those indicators is presented to facilitate a better understanding of urban water security.